The current state of reproductive rights in Australia

Every person should have the freedom to make decisions about their bodies and to safely and privately access healthcare.

However, abortion is still in the criminal statute books in NSW, SA and WA – a recognised form of sex discrimination in international human rights law.

The criminalisation of abortion harms women by making it harder to access safe and compassionate reproductive healthcare.

Trans men and gender diverse people are also harmed by laws that restrict access to reproductive healthcare, which is further compounded by other forms of gender-based discrimination.

In 2018, abortion was removed from the criminal code in Queensland. Progress has also been made in the NT, but the new laws still arbitrarily limit access to abortion. In Tasmania, some women have to fly interstate because affordable abortion services no longer exist.

Elsewhere, protections that do exist are under threat – safe access zone laws in Victoria and Tasmania are being challenged in the High Court by anti-abortionists. Safe access zones stop the harmful harassment, abuse and intimidation of patients and staff by anti-abortionists directly outside abortion clinics and are crucial to ensuring that women can access reproductive health care safely, privately and with dignity.

In 2015, we acted for the East Melbourne Fertility Control Clinic in its Supreme Court bid to end decades-long harassment of women by anti-abortionists out the front of its premises. The case prompted the Melbourne City Council to publicly condemn the harassment and the Victorian Parliament to pass safe access zone laws.

The laws have been effective at stopping two decades of harassment, allowing 5,000 patients per year and 15 staff to safely access the clinic, and stopping harassment at other Victorian clinics.

Our strategic political engagement and public advocacy contributed significantly to the passing of safe access zone laws in NSW in June 2018, for which the HRLC was acknowledged in Parliament.

We have successfully worked with women’s rights, medical and campaign groups in the NT and Tasmania to decriminalise abortion laws and ensure safe access to reproductive health services.

News

The Morrison Government has failed to sign on to an International Women’s Day statement at the United Nations calling for access to safe abortions, comprehensive sexuality education and sexual reproductive health.

On International Women’s Day the UN will hear that the Australian Government is penalising single mothers with babies as young as six months through a punitive program that is making life harder for parents.

Doctors, lawyers, healthcare groups and domestic violence services joined community organisations today to deliver an open letter calling for the NSW Parliament to recognise the right to safe and legal abortion access in the state.

A bill tabled in the South Australian Parliament today would promote the right of all South Australians to control their bodies by removing abortion from the state’s criminal statute books. (Photo credit: Sharise Birse)

The Queensland Parliament should demonstrate its commitment to women’s health and equality by passing a bill to modernise the state’s woefully outdated abortion laws the Human Right Law Centre said in a submission to a parliamentary committee today.

The Queensland Parliament has the historic opportunity to bring its woefully outdated abortion laws into the 21st Century with the Queensland Premier today proposing welcome new laws to remove abortion from the criminal code.

Australian governments should respect a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body by removing abortion from criminal laws the Human Rights Law Centre told the UN Human Rights Council in a statement delivered in Geneva overnight.

The Turnbull Government’s second session as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the UN body responsible for protecting the rights and dignity of people all over the world, will begin in Geneva tomorrow.

Women in NSW will no longer be forced to run a gauntlet of abuse and harassment just to see their doctor after the NSW Parliament today passed a bill to create safe access zones around abortion clinics.

The importance of a woman's right to safely and privately access reproductive health services has been recognised by the NSW Legislative Council with the passing of a bill that would guarantee safe access zones around abortion clinics.

The safety, wellbeing and dignity of women seeking reproductive health services is a step closer to being protected in New South Wales through a bill that would guarantee safe access zones around abortion clinics.

In a submission to the Queensland Law Reform Commission’s inquiry into abortion laws, the Human Rights Law Centre has called for the decriminalisation of abortion and for new laws that respect women’s right to choose what happens to their bodies.

Women in Victorian prisons are being regularly and routinely subjected to degrading strip-searches and the Government should end the practice. Speaking at the launch of a new report, the HRLC's Ruth Barson said being forced to remove every last item of clothing again and again, strips women of dignity and of hope.

Today Penny Sharpe MLC introduced a bill into the New South Wales parliament to protect the privacy, safety and dignity of women accessing reproductive health services.

“For too long, women in NSW have had to run the gauntlet of intimidation and abuse just to see their doctor. It’s difficult to understand how this behaviour has been allowed to continue for so long,” said Ms Howie.

The Human Rights Law Centre welcomes the Termination of Pregnancy Law Reform Bill tabled in the Northern Territory Parliament today but argues that it doesn’t go far enough to truly modernise the Territory’s abortion laws and respect women as competent decision-makers.

Opinion

It’s 2018 and women’s voices are still ridiculed, disregarded, dismissed and put down. But there’s no doubting that our voices are out there, loud and clear and they are increasingly more difficult to ignore. Our voices are out there and this is a good thing. But not all women’s voices are heard.

On Friday, the people of Ireland will vote on whether a divisive constitutional ban on abortion should end. Ireland's abortion laws are some of the most harsh and archaic in the world – only since 2013 have abortions to save a woman's life been legal.

Queensland MPs stand at a crossroads when it comes to the state's abortion laws, but one thing is abundantly clear: the status quo is unacceptable. New polling released this week shows overwhelming public support for women's right to choose abortion in Queensland and that voters are turned off by MPs who support criminalising abortion.

Women in the Northern Territory are being told that they still can’t be trusted to make decisions about their bodies. That’s the message that comes through in a discussion paper released by the Northern Territory Government proposing changes to the Territory’s abortion laws.

While ongoing commitments and efforts to secure the rights of the world’s women and girls are commendable, on no measure can we say that our work is done, writes Natasha Stott Despoja, Australia’s Ambassador for Women and Girls.

Australia recently argued before the Committee Against Torture that violence against women does not fall within the Committee’s mandate. Australia was unequivocally wrong to do so – both legally and ethically, writes the HRLC's Ruth Barson

A society free from domestic and family violence is possible, but it will take effort from the whole community to achieve. First, we need to reject the myth that family violence is a private problem that only exists within the four walls of the home.

May 30, 2012

We acknowledge and pay our respects to the Traditional Owners owners of the land on which we work and live.

We pay our respects to the First Peoples of this country, their culture and Elders past, present and emerging. We recognise that this land was and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land because sovereignty was never ceded.

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